Cyber Security Centre

Cyber security is an increasingly important requirement for global business and modern society. We exist in a data-centric world, where information technology and associated communications' networks and services pervade every aspect of our lives. This makes the protection of our digital assets and activities in cyberspace of critical importance, whether for individual life experience or a prosperous and sustainable society. But the challenge to understand cyber risk and deliver effective and accessible security becomes harder as technology continues to rapidly evolve and our systems become ever more complex. We are increasingly dependent upon such information and communications infrastructures, and the threats we face are organised and evolving the skills to exploit our dependency to further their interests.

There is an urgent need for creative thought leading to the next generation of cyber security capability. Current approaches are simply not able to meet the demands of a global society growing in cyberspace on the current trajectory. New business models are forcing greater interdependency between people, organisations and nation states in order to successfully manage cyber risk. Success will necessarily require an ability to anticipate, deter, detect, resist and tolerate attacks, understand and predict cyber risks, and respond and recover effectively at all levels, whether individual, enterprise, national or across international markets. In order to meet the demands of the future we will require new understanding, governance, regulation, partnerships, skills, and tools.

The Cyber Security Centre has been established to bring together experts from a number of disciplines in Oxford and the wider world to address the cyber security challenges of the 21st century. We embrace challenge in technical difficulty and in new and potentially disruptive ideas, welcome new contributors to the domain, and will facilitate creativity. The centre will drive major developments in the theory and practice of cyber security, and aims to help in the creation of a safe, secure and prosperous cyberspace through internationally leading research and educational programmes.